1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to lamp mount system for high voltage lamps in illumination systems such as projectors.
2. Description of Related Art
An optical assembly to produce illumination for a projection system has several optical elements to accept and shape and relay the light from a lamp. Therefore the accurate positioning of the lamp with respect to these optical elements is mandatory. Because of the nature of the operation of an arc lamp, there is an issue with lifetime. This means that many illumination systems that use arc lamps will need to have the lamp replaced at least once.
Prior mounting systems for lamps in projection systems generally include many elements, such as springs, wire guides and connecting screws. While such systems work well for retaining the lamp, they are unnecessarily complicated to manufacture and require too much time and effort to assemble or to remove a burned out lamp and insert a new one.
A need remains in the art for a lamp mount system for projectors, having only a few parts which snap together without the need for connecting hardware.